[Vision2020] [CORRECTED] RE: tonight's school board meeting
Tom Hansen
thansen at moscow.com
Tue Jul 24 20:26:11 PDT 2007
Arnold, the . . . er . . . uh . . . whatever he is, stated:
"As opposed to the grumpy old paleo hippies that see no wrong could ever
come from the MSD."
>From Allwords.com at http://www.allwords.com/word-hippie.html:
"Hippies
colloq
Especially in the 1960s: someone, typically young, with long hair and
wearing brightly-colored clothes, stressing the importance of
self-expression and love, and rebelling against the more conservative
standards and values of society."
By using the plural form "hippies", Arnold, I certainly hope that your rant
includes me. The definition pretty much fits me to a "T", although I have
neither had long hair ("long" defined as extending 4 to 6 inches below my
shoulders) nor worn my powder-blue, corduroy bell-bottoms since 1969. I
still have the bell-bottoms, although I don't think that I will ever fit
into them again. I left a good portion of my "long" hair on the floor of a
barber shop at the reception station of Fort Ord, California.
Seeya round town, Moscow.
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho
"We're a town of about 23,000 with 10,000 college students. The college
students are not very active in local elections (thank goodness!)."
- Dale Courtney (March 28, 2007)
_____
From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com]
On Behalf Of Donovan Arnold
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 7:51 PM
To: Bill London; keely emerinemix; vision2020 at moscow.com
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] tonight's school board meeting
Bill London writes,
"It sure looks to me like Harter and all are offering extortion, not
concilation.
Like some kind of bizarre coup d'etat, a tiny group of grumpy guys decide to
sue the school district -- and then offer to drop the suit IF the school
district will agree to binding arbitration. . ."
As opposed to the grumpy old paleo hippies that see no wrong could ever come
from the MSD. Many respectable community members would very much like to see
a peaceful solution to this problem. But unfortunately, due to false pride,
the MSD would rather lose a huge portion of its funding than admit it could
have ever made a mistake. The vanity of MSD will be its downfall.
Best,
Donovan
Bill London <london at moscow.com> wrote:
Thanks Keely for your cogent analysis of the district suit situation.
It sure looks to me like Harter and all are offering extortion, not
concilation.
Like some kind of bizarre coup d'etat, a tiny group of grumpy guys decide to
sue the school district -- and then offer to drop the suit IF the school
district will agree to binding arbitration -- which is a guaranteed win for
them, and a huge affront to the democratic process that decided the fate of
the original levy.
BL
----- Original Message -----
From: keely emerinemix <mailto:kjajmix1 at msn.com>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 1:25 PM
Subject: [Vision2020] tonight's school board meeting
Visionaires,
It looks to me that the school board meeting tonight will feature Don Harter
and his plea for a "conciliatory" resolution to the Weitz lawsuit
challenging the validity of the recent supplemental levy increase.
Undoubtedly it will feature further discussion of the issues Harter will
raise. Board Chair Dawn Fazio's statement in the Daily News yesterday made
sense, insofar as it outlined the board's willingness to let Harter speak --
as it allows and encourages all stakeholders to air concerns during the
meetings -- and yet made it clear that the Board has no intention, even if
it could, of overthrowing the will of those voters who, by majority, voted
for the increase.
I'm heartened that the trustees took steps to frame the debate in clear,
concise, and correct terms; I've often been critical of MSD for responding
slowly or not at all when its integrity is challenged, particularly when the
challenge has been based not only on anti-public schools vitriol but
misleading, incorrect information. My hope is that the board continue to
state what Fazio said yesterday and what Dr. Donicht has previously said.
Those points are simple, and I hope that they are clearly repeated by the
trustees tonight.
Here's what I hope the board offers prior to and after Harter's comments:
1. The district did not initiate the litigation it is now involved in; a
disgruntled patron did. Now it's in the court system -- there's no backing
out for either the defendant or the plaintiff. Once the suit is filed and
finds a hearing, not even the most disingenuously worded petition can act as
an "oops" sufficient to relieve the plaintiff of the responsibility for what
he has begun.
2. The district believes it has acted in accord with state law in running
the levy. Weitz, et al, believe it didn't. The judge gets to decide who's
right.
3. A petition asking that the district remove itself from litigation not of
its own initiative in order to offer or accept an olive branch by way of
re-running the levy election is not only unfair but impossible -- and asks
the district to deny the will of the voters who approved the increase. It's
not only a legal impossibility, but sets a terrible precedent: that
election results can be overthrown under the guise of "conciliation." Nice
words don't make for good policy, and the Board needs to make that clear.
There's no need tonight to argue the merits of the case, a case I believe
MSD will win. But Harter should realize, and the community should know,
that while MSD is accommodating his desire to speak tonight, it's because
MSD allows and encourages all community members to do so -- not because
Harter's offer of "conciliation" merits serious consideration. A "make
nice" petition sounds like a great exercise in bringing together a community
stung by one man's crusade to hamstring it. But Harter's request isn't an
olive branch at all, just an attempt to ease the consequences felt by Weitz
and make MSD's enemies look like its saviors. Government by petition isn't
effective. In this case, it's not even possible. Because even if a
petition could end the standoff and honor the law, the electorate, and the
kids, such a thing -- setting aside the will of the voters -- would be an
act of monumental ill will. The lack of goodwill here is not MSD's fault.
Neither is the discomfort felt by Dr. Weitz as he realizes the depth of the
community's displeasure with him.
I obviously chose to be a more "activist" trustee than the current trustees
have, but I hope that on this, we agree that a firm, fair telling of the
facts is imperative -- and not just tonight. Harter may choose to bring the
circus into town, but the Board can respect his rights as a citizen without
jumping through the hoops he's set out for them.
keely
_____
Local listings, incredible imagery, and driving directions - all in one
place! Find <http://maps.live.com/?wip=69&FORM=MGAC01> it!
_____
=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
http://www.fsr.net
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================
=======================================================
List services made available by First Step Internet,
serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
http://www.fsr.net
mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
=======================================================
_____
Take the Internet to Go: Yahoo!Go puts the Internet
<http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=48253/*http:/mobile.yahoo.com/go?refer=1GNXIC>
in your pocket: mail, news, photos & more.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.fsr.com/pipermail/vision2020/attachments/20070724/934226f4/attachment-0001.html
More information about the Vision2020
mailing list